Destinations

If one destination is a must for 2020 it has to be the Cairngorms National Park in the Scottish Highlands.

Cap Ferrat is the most expensive piece of real estate on the entire French Mediterranean coast, but construction hoardings and the occasional crane mask many of the unoccupied villas lining its prime avenues.

In overall terms, Germany’s cities are hardly over-endowed with either luxury or boutique hotel accommodation. Yet, in Hamburg, the grande-dame Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahretseiten bucks this trend and can rival many world-class properties in terms of comfort, atmosphere and service.

The great and the good love to frequent London’s finest hotels, dine at its most fashionable restaurants and attend key opening parties such as the Monday preview of the Chelsea Flower Show.

Welcome to April and springtime. In this monthly newsletter we take an overview of London, hoping to inspire you for the months ahead.

What does the discerning world-class traveller generally think of when it comes to France?

It may not be a fixture on the annual art calendar but travellers to Bangkok should not miss a visit to MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Italy is a land blessed with an exceptionally long and interesting coastline, three major beautiful lakes, the majestic and craggy Dolomite mountains, historic cities, inviting towns and villages and gorgeous offshore islands.

Can a great hotel provide a good enough reason to love a city? Can it be enough to compel us to visit in the first place or to return time and time again?

The Orient always fascinates, with its culture, religious beliefs and ceremonies. Little compares with the spectacle of Angkor Wat, Siem Reap.

February also means Valentine’s Day and romance. Where better to celebrate it than somewhere romantic, such as in the mountains, on a tropical beach…

The slick, minimalist Richard Meier-designed Four Seasons Hotel & Residences, 9011 Collins Avenue, is invariably referred to as being in Miami Beach but is actually in Surfside, Dade County, closer to Bal Harbour than Miami Beach.

It’s no longer all about South Beach with its images of roller-bladers, fitness aficionados, the Versace mansion and a host of rebranded Art Deco-style boutique hotels.

Welcome to the final month of the year. The season of goodwill is upon us, winter is officially here, days are short and festivities are gaining momentum.

How often have we by-passed the historic city of Naples, leaving its airport in the seedy Capodichino area to the north-east of the city, en route for either Capri or the Amalfi Coast?

Admittedly it’s not beautiful in comparison with elegant, soigné Paris, nor does it have the historic magnificence of London or the grandeur of ancient Rome.

As we flew above the Kalahari, its parched, desert landscape soon gave way to pods of green foliage resembling islets, some dotted with stately palms.

October means that fall is here, the season when our thoughts focus on travel to far-flung continents and new adventures.

A gated community for the privileged is how many people think of Mustique. To an extent, this is correct. Even as you descend onto the immaculate airport strip, with its perfectly maintained tarmac, and arrive at the tiny arrivals hall it feels, shall we say, somewhat elitist.

If you are seeking the most exceptional, luxurious accommodation outside London, with top cuisine, in a gorgeous bucolic setting, we think we may have found what you are looking for. It promises to be the UK’s finest new country house hotel.

There is nothing worse than a hotel claiming to be the ultimate in luxury when it simply does not deliver. You know how much you loved a place by how ready you are to leave.

The great migration has finally arrived in Kenya. This exhilarating annual spectacle, when thousands of wildebeest cross the Mara river, is now underway.

Welcome to the month of August. High summer is over and it won’t be long before August Bank Holiday in the UK and Labor Day in the US are upon us.

“A nod to the Arab identity of Jaffa in what promises to become Israel’s finest hotel”

The heel of Italy is a relatively well-kept secret. There is little in the way of inspiring scenery or architecture on the drive south from Bari to the pretty little port of Savelletri.

Provence is basking in full 30 degree sunshine, the skies of the Aegean are vibrant blue, days are long, nights are warm and drawing in late.

There are beautiful hilltop towns and villages, rolling countryside, vineyards and gorgeous vistas. This is Provence.

Bodrum is back. We were there last week in perfect early summer conditions, the hotels looking great, occupancy levels high, weather perfect and the sea as enticing as we can ever recall.

Just back from Mykonos with the latest and best from the Aegean’s favourite jet set island

The month of June signals the start of the summer season in the UK with Royal Ascot, Henley and Wimbledon as highlight sporting and social events

Is there anything that annoys like noise? Given the sophistication and substantial investment in most hotel and restaurant designs, it never ceases to amaze us how many places seem to take no account of acoustics.

An appreciation of art and an eagerness to experience it first hand has long enthused international travellers and today that passion is further fuelled by an explosion of interest in contemporary art.

When it comes to London, the choice of hotels is truly impressive. Most of the big names are represented, each with their devotees. Maybourne, Dorchester, Firmdale, Four Seasons, Bulgari, Mandarin Oriental, Shangri-la et al. are all in London, with more to come next year.

The Museum of Contemporary African Art, otherwise known as Zeitz MOCAA, has finally arrived in Cape Town. It is, by far, the most exciting part of the otherwise underwhelming V&A Waterfront with its shopping malls, average restaurants, lacklustre hotels and waterways reminiscent of London’s Docklands.

Lima, city on the ocean and capital of Peru, has a unique charm of its own with a very impressive food culture.

Located in the verdant highlands of Laikipia, amongst rolling hills clothed in wild olive and cedar trees and, on a clear day, views of Mount Kenya in the distance…

Though its obvious charms may be historical – its campaniles, campos, cathedrals and canals, its frankly faded grandeur – there’s a contemporary side…

You may think you’ve been there and done that, but in our opinion the Côte d’Azur can be a place of inexhaustible pleasures. As far as we’re concerned, its appeal endures, because when you do it the right way it’s a place that makes you feel good.

Humpback whale-watching, heli-skiing, snowmobiling on Europe’s largest glacier, fly-fishing, hiking, sea kayaking… In Iceland, these are just a few of the wonderful activities in which you can take part.

There’s a certain elegance about white flowers, especially white roses and hydrangeas set against topiary. Designer Jean Mus has created a beautiful new formal garden for Ritz Paris along one side of the gallery of boutiques. It is a triumph in urban landscape.

Of the classics, there is Grand Hotel Tremezzo, facing Bellagio in one of the finest (dual aspect) locations on the lake; or the fabled Villa d’Este at Cernobbio closer to Milan, across from the main town of Como.

Dubbed “the Paris of South America”, the striking behemoth of a city that is Buenos Aires has – much like it’s European counterpart – made a hefty name for itself thanks to its intoxicating blend…

Nota Bene talks to Swiss jeweller Christophe Graber.

French fashion icon Coco Chanel once famously uttered: “I don’t care what you think about me – I don’t think about you at all.” In that one succinct phrase, she encapsulated the essence of that infamous French insouciance which – whether admired or despised – has become the country’s calling card the world over.

A collection of our favourite pools across the globe.

It’s the tiny details and the nuances of service, which influence our judgement and form our abiding memory of a place.

In a digitally saturated world of so-called expert travel opinions there are few, if any, independent, impartial and unique sources. And this is why Nota Bene exists.

We love Venice full stop, but there is something particularly ravishing about La Serenissima in winter.

The Cafe, which takes its name from the gorgeously merchandised nurseries through which you enter, comprises an arboured courtyard with several greenhouses surrounded by plants and trees…

Grand Hotel à Villa Feltrinelli, to give it its full name, was originally the private home of Bob Burns, founder of Regent Hotels. As the story goes, Bob purchased the derelict villa on Lake Garda (headquarters of Mussolini during World War II) in 1997 and set about restoring it at huge cost.